By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I’m sorry that I don’t have time to leave a detailed report, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite pics from yesterday and today.  It’s been a busy weekend!

This is just after a food transfer between Beauty and one of the girls. (8/9/13)

*

*

*

*

*

Beauty flies by us after giving food to one of the female juvies.  Looks like she’s going through a molt.  (8/9/13)

*

*

*

*

*

I’m pretty sure that Rosetta has lost her white stripe over the blue tape on her band.  Just like Baron lost his stripe and is now just yellow, Rosetta looks all blue to me in this picture.  She flew over us while we were watching from the observation deck near the High Falls. (8/9/13)

*

*

*

*

*

Juvie flying in front of the High Falls. (8/9/13)

*

*

*

*

*

Today, Voyager visited us while we were out on the observation deck.  Hello Voyager! (8/10/13)

*

*

*

*

*

It has been a wonderful two days of watching.  Besides seeing all five Rochester Falcons in the gorge, we were excited to see an Osprey hanging out in the falcon sucking tree on the gorge wall.  We believe a juvenile female.  She even successfully caught a fish in the river below and brought it back to the tree to eat!

Today we also saw a Great Blue Heron catch a REALLY BIG FISH!  The GBH may have been young and just didn’t know how to eat this meal.  A 2nd GBH chased the one with the fish and ended up getting the fish in the end.

We were very happy to meet Deanne and Bud from North Carolina.  They were here to see the PGA Golf Tournament yesterday and took time out today to visit their favorite falcons.  Deanne has been a lurker since 2006 and was thrilled to see falcons flying in the gorge.  Something she has always wanted to see.  It was so nice meeting you both.

Our friends Michelle & Enrique from Buffalo, joined us on the pedestrian bridge this afternoon.  They are Watchers for the Buffalo falcons, including the Central Terminal nest site, where Diamante and Glieg are located.  This was their first time visiting the gorge.  So nice seeing you!  At 10:30 pm, they reported from the Genesee Brewery patio, that they just saw two falcons fly up to the Kodak Tower.

Falcon Watchers out this weekend: Kathy O, MAK, Dana, Lisa McK, Dan, Larry O, Jeanne, Pat, Joyce, Lou, Deanne, Bud, Michelle & Enrique. Hope that’s everyone!

It was a gorgeous day today!  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

There’s no way to sugar coat it folks-todays watch was dismal. It was 70 (F)  21 (C) humid,rainy,foggy, dark degrees and it rained in varying degrees the whole watch.

Straight away off the 490 ramp I spotted a falcon on the west side platform railing of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I couldn’t tell if it was an adult or juvie from the west side as it had its back to me, but when I went to the east side from the City Hall parking lot I could see  it thru a platform opening concluding it was a juvie.

After checking the rest of the tower I set out to find more falcons. I failed miserably and when I returned to FCT  that falcon was gone. This was a sign of what the rest of my watch would be like. I took a quick ride down to Kodak Office (KO) but nothing there. As I drove down Plymouth Ave. I spotted a falcon on the north side of FCTs platform railing.

25 minutes later at 6:45am it flew off and didn’t return. I went up to the roof of the Sister Cities garage to have a quick look around but didn’t see any PEFAs or prey birds for that matter. I went over to High Falls and checked there to no avail and then checked every side of KO-nothing. As I looked to the south from Verona St. which is next to KO, I saw a falcon bump in the back  of the Times Square building (TSB) under the southwest wing. I drove to Exchange Blvd. and pulled over in front of the Blue Cross Arena for the best view of this rain soaked fledgling.

It stayed only 5 minutes or so and left the building around 8am when I wasn’t looking. After a spin around the city with no sightings I went over to the Brighton site where my luck didn’t change any-no Pigott and no Dot.Ca. Cam watcher and good friend Donna reported seeing a falcon on the platform railing of FCT. Thank you for your much appreciated help!  So someone in New Jersey was as successful finding a PEFA as I was in person. Ain’t that something!? lol   I had to make a stop and when I resumed my watch downtown at City Hall I found Voyager on the west side platform railing of FCT thru the platform opening again.

I could hear whining but it didn’t look like Voyagers mouth was opening so I drove around to find Rosetta under the platform right below her sister and she was the one whining.

Both girls were drenched from the rain and as I started tweeting I looked back to find they were both gone. I then went back over to the City Hall parking lot and found that they had just switched sides on the tower. Voyager was now on the east side platform railing and Rosetta on the north side railing.

<Voyager <Rosetta

The rain started to really come down hard at this point. It was obvious they weren’t going anywhere other than to find better shelter so I called it a watch around 10:30am. Although I didn’t see the rest of the family or Pigott I still had a bit of a smile for having seen the water logged sisters! 🙂

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I arrived around 6:30 pm, checking out the downtown area first.  Having no luck finding any falcons, I parked at the east end of the pedestrian bridge, grabbed my camera and binoculars and walked out onto the bridge, along with other folks out for a walk and a peak at the beautiful view.  I often hear exclamations of surprise from first time visitors saying they had no idea there was a water fall here.  To me, besides enjoying watching the falcons fly there, it is such a peaceful spot, with all kinds of wild life and the soothing sound of the falls and the river below.  One of my favorite spots and it’s right in the center of downtown Rochester!

After checking all the nooks and cranny’s on the gorge wall, I checked out the surrounding area.  Finally a falcon.  Looked like a juvie had landed on the large white drum on the SE side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).  The juvie looked like it was eating.  Once finished eating, the juvie hopped up to the structure above the drum.

*

*

*

*

*

This juvie stayed there for much of my Watch.  I continued to search the area and found a 2nd juvie on the Gorsline Bldg, between the two security cameras located on the roof.  Based on size, definitely a female, but too far to ID.  Wonder if those cameras reminded her of home? lol  After taking just one picture, she took off and headed for the gorge, where she flew back and forth across the falls before I lost track of her.

*

*

*

*

*

Kathy O joined me and she found a juvie on the City Place Bldg, along with the one still on the FCT.  It was gone soon after that.

*

*

*

*

*

When Larry O joined us, there were no falcons seen.  So, we settled on one of the wood benches and chatted.  The dark clouds were moving in and when I left Larry (Kathy O also left) on the pedestrian bridge to check out the downtown area at about 8:30 pm, it started to lightly rain.

*

*

*

*

*

I drove down St Paul and turned left on Woodbury.  Downtown Rochester was hopping and there weren’t too many parking spots.  Beauty was on top of Xerox on the south side on the 5th column in from the SE corner.  One juvie was on the NW corner of the HSBC bldg.  Ok, that was two.  The Crows lined the Frontier Bldg roof, with no falcon visitors.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

The clouds over Xerox were taking on a pink/rosey color.

*

*

*

*

*

I was losing light quick so I headed over to the City Hall parking lot for a quick look at the Kodak Tower.  There were boxing matches taking place there tonight and I could here LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE filling the air.

The lighting on the tower was making it hard to view the cupola, but finally I was able to see two same size juvie falcons up there, one on the south and one on the south east.  Was this Rosetta and Voyager and was it Baron on HSBC.  All guesses of course.  In this really bad picture, you can just make out two juvies tucked in on the cupola.  I tweeted it in.  At 8:50 pm, It was time to go!

*

*

*

*

*

I was happy that I was able to see all three juvies tonight, plus Beauty.  What a wonderful day it was.

Take care,

Carol

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

I was woken up by a clap of thunder and the flash of lightening at 4am and when I left for my watch at 5:30am it was sprinkling and 66 (F)  19 (C)  humid degrees.

Still dark when I arrived at the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) I couldn’t see any PEFAs nor did I see any at Kodak Office (KO) or the Times Square (TSB),Broad St bridge (BSB) areas. I did however find Beauty on the northeast corner of HSBC but she flew off before I could pull over heading northwest toward the river. I made my way back to City Hall and found Dot.Ca (DC) on the top arm west side of FCT.

A couple minutes later a small falcon (probably Baron) came streaking  thru from behind the tower over the platform flying southeast out of view quickly. A couple minutes later DC took off to the southwest just as fast and vanished into the semi dark sky. I left for the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge where I found Dan . He said he had seen 3  flying near FCT right after he arrived and that one had landed on the jail tower and left and 1 landed on FCT. That one was still there on a north side white beam below the platform eating.

Click my pics to see the full version

5 minutes later I spotted a PEFA on the west side railing of HSBC. Too much of a distance to tell if adult or juvie.

A few minutes later it left HSBC. There was a lull for the next 25 minutes when at 7am the FCT falcon left and Dan followed suit as he left for home. I drove over to FCT and found Baron on a northside beam with a full crop. As a matter of fact today featured bulging crops.

He left after 5 minutes passed and it looked like he had landed on the small tower but after viewing from a different angle I found that he did not but rather flew away to the west.

I searched downtown but came up empty for falcons so I drove to Brighton to find Pigott around 8am. She was at the east end of the south side vent and she was checking out everything that moved.

She stayed up there for 45 minutes faking me out several times as she would spread her wings and lunge forward a bit making me think she was taking off.  And lots of stretching!

I got a text from fellow watcher and good friend DebbieH that as she got to work she saw a falcon on the jail tower. Thanks Deb! At 8:45am Miss Pigott flew off to the northwest and didn’t return.

I returned to the pedestrian bridge and checked the high falls gorge area and saw nothing but I did see a falcon on the top arm west side of FCT. Off to City Hall I went, actually Church St where I was able to ID it as DC, he had a full crop and a small package in his talons. I also identified 2 falcon watchers on the sidewalk as Linda (Braveheart) and her son Tim.

I left them to park my car in front of City Hall and while I was over there I found Beauty on the east side a bit lower than the large satellite dish on FCT.

I walked back over to where Linda and Tim were standing in front of the Hochstein School of Music and while I did that DC flew off the arm and landed under the platform near the southeast corner.

Voyager was over on a north side beam with a bulging crop!!! She was busy picking at her talons,looking around and even took a little food induced nap.

<click it

Mostly she whined -she whined at dad,she whined at mom, she whined at Baron when he came in landing below her and then he took over the whining.

<DC 

Beauty moved over to the south side where we could see her and she had a full crop as well. So we had 4 fully cropped falcons on FCT and I was thinking that Rosetta was probably somewhere nearby filling her crop.

Click it

Baron was quite antsy and noisy, eventually at 10:55am he took off flying southwest. I called it a watch and Linda and Tim left as well. Full crops and noisy fledglings made this watcher smile today! 🙂

Click on the links below to view my photo album and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqicM

http://youtu.be/-puQwPzP_1Q
http://youtu.be/tGU2JU88yR8
http://youtu.be/pn21H-zRFT8
http://youtu.be/PtK_C4cff_M
http://youtu.be/1ei36sXpLAc

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I was able to get downtown earlier today, arriving at about 4:30 pm.  I found both Voyager and Baron on the west side of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) platform.  Both showed me their bands, making it possible for me to ID them.  It was Voyager on the left and Baron on the Right.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

First Voyager and then Baron took off heading north towards the Kodak Tower.  I followed the best I could in the 5:00 pm traffic.  On the way, I could see both of them flying near the Kodak Tower.  By the time I parked, I was only able to find one of them on the 17th floor, east side.

*

*

*

*

*

This juvie walked around the corner to the south side of the building.  After that, I was not able to find either juvie there.  So, I left Kodak behind and checked out the whole downtown area.  No luck finding any falcons.  Where could they have gone?  I decided it was time to head to the pedestrian bridge, time to check out the gorge.  From there, I could see a falcon in the “falcon sucking tree”.  This tree that hangs off of the east side gorge wall was given this name by our friend and falcon fan Dale from Chicago.  It seems to catch every falcon that passes by.  lol  This falcon was not a juvie, it was an adult.  It was Beauty in the gorge!  But where were the juvies?

*

*

*

*

*

I checked every nook and cranny and found two juvies on the fencing on top of an old structure on the east side of the High Falls.  Time to walk out to the observation deck.  Dark clouds were moving in and by the time I got out to the observation deck, it was lightly raining.  Not good for my camera, but I still took a few pictures.

*

*

*

*

*

It was Baron for sure on the corner of the fence and I assumed the other juvie was Voyager since she had been with him earlier, but I can’t be sure. From where I stood, I had a front view of Beauty on the gorge wall.

*

*

*

*

*

It continued to rain and the winds picked up.  Voyager took off while I was taking a picture of Beauty and Baron flew to the end of the fence, closer to the top of the falls, with the water rushing behind him.  He then took off and flew low behind the Gorsline building, heading south west.  I never did see him come out the other side of the building.

*

*

*

*

*

It started to rain a little harder and I headed back to the parking lot to put my camera away until it stopped.  On the way, I met Dana and Kathy O, who had just arrived.  The dark clouds pushed through and it stopped raining, We walked out to the pedestrian bridge and saw that Beauty was still there, but no juvies in sight.

*

*

*

*

*

There were all kinds of critters out and about below us, including (and we counted them) 10 deer and at least 6 or 7 Great Blue Heron scattered about and arguing with each other.  Seems prime fishing spots were worth fighting over.

*

*

*

*

*

Kathy O had to leave and Lisa McK joined Dana and I on the Watch.  It wasn’t long after that when we spotted 1 – 2  – 3 young falcons enter the gorge from the south!  We were thrilled to see all three chasing and playing with each other in this beautiful setting.  I wish it could have lasted longer, but too soon, they chased each other to the Kodak Tower where we caught glimpses of them as they circled the building.  Finally, we could not see them any more.  Here are a series of pictures of the juvies as they flew above us.  Most of the time they were flying on the north side of the bridge, directly in front of the sun.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Beauty left the gorge while we weren’t looking, but her exit did not go unnoticed.  While we were walking back to our cars to go look for the juvies, we received a tweet from Joyce that she had just arrived out at the observation deck in time to see Beauty fly by, heading towards the east end of downtown.  Great timing Joyce!

Dana, Lisa and I went searching for where the juvies ended up.  Lisa and I caught up with Dana on the west side of Kodak Office, actually Carestream’s building.  From there, we could see all three, Baron, Rosetta and Voyager sitting on top of one of the large lights that lit up the field at Frontier Stadium.  In the past, many young falcons have been seen there, but it was the first time I saw one there since the nest box was moved off of the Kodak Tower.  There they were, all three with their backs to us, looking south.  One by one, Baron last, they took off heading downtown.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

At 8:30 pm, it was time to end my Watch.  Dana left also, leaving Lisa and Joyce to enjoy an awesome aerial display by all three juvies over the downtown buildings.  Today was a wonderful day to be out watching our Rochester Falcons.  Can’t wait til tomorrow!  Goodnight everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

There was a slight breeze and a temperature of 66 (F) 19 (C) at the start of my watch this morning.

It took 25 minutes to find falcons this morning as I arrived downtown at 5:35am and checked downtown twice. The second look at Kodak Office (KO) bagged 2 juvies-1 on the cupola and 1 on the launchpad, both on the southeast side. The launchpad bird walked to the northeast corner and then the cupola bird walked to his northeast side above its sibling.

10 minutes later they both flew south so I drove over to the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT) and had a look-it was then that I heard a juvie crying but it was coming from the roof of City Place so I went up to the roof of the Sister Cities garage. When I got up there I spotted a fledgling flying above City Place and then 2 more joined up with it near Widows Walk. The 3 of them flew in my direction and started playing talon tag over State St. near the Federal building making their way back by FCT. After a couple times around the tower one of them broke away from the other 2 and flew over by OCSR then back above me on her way to the platform railing of FCT east side.

It was Rosetta and she stayed only a minute or so before she flew off. Meanwhile, Baron and Voyager had flown northeast toward the High Falls. I got a tweet from LarryO who was on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge with Dan that they had 2 juvies in the gorge and that they had landed on the building on the east side of the falls and then disappeared. I then drove over there to join them arriving about 6:45am but we would not see another falcon in the gorge after that. We did see a young Red-tailed Hawk on a beam below the pedestrian bridge.

Around 7am I got a message from cam watcher Donna that she could hear a falcon near the nest on the livestream. I zoomed my camera out as far as it goes and clicked a pic that found a juvie on the well wall.

Dan and Larry left and just as I was about to leave the juvie on Times Square building (TSB) flew east across the river  and vanished near Xerox. I drove over to the Andrews St. bridge and saw some pigeons in panic mode over the river between the Radisson Hotel and OCSR and for good reason as coming up behind them were 2 fledglings. They all scattered going in every possible direction and then the juvies broke off the chase and flew west out of view.

I then got a text from DebbieH saying there was a juvie on Widows Walk (WW). Sooo, I drove to Fitzhugh St. just in time to see Rosetta fly off the railing to the southeast. I drove over to the hole and spotted a fledgling under the northwest wing of TSB-I couldn’t ID it cuz it had its back to the world but I suspect it was Rosetta.

Debbie had stayed on Fitzhugh St. and I went back over to join her at 7:45am as Baron was on the north side lower roof below the railing on WW. He had a full crop and was preoccupied with picking tidbits off his right talon and leg band.

From my position I could also see the juvie under the northwest wing of TSB. Debbie saw the 3rd juvie fly from City Place toward TSB and the wing girl flew off too, possibly following her sister out of view. Baron remained on WW picking, preening and even getting a little shut eye in. He also watched some little birdies below him and followed a bee that was buzzing around his head-his version of learning about the birds and the bees! 😀

Debbie walked down to City Place looking for the girls while I stayed with the very cute Baron. He always shows me his bling like he’s proud of it. lol

Debbie had one of the girls on City Place only 3 floors up on the northeast corner-she was so excited! I went down there but it was gone when I got there. Deb had to get to work so I returned to boy Baron who hung around until about 8:10am when he looked up and saw one of his sisters. He waved goodbye and was off in a hurry flying northeast quickly vanishing behind buildings.

I chose to go to our Brighton Site to check on Pigott at this time. I found her on the front edge of the cubby tight up against the brick.

Click it for full version

She started preening and about 10 minutes later I heard the familiar sound of Dot.Ca (DC) chirping and then Pigott walked into the cubby at which time I heard loud echupping. This went on for over a minute then it quieted down with a chirp here and there followed by some soft chupping. Total silence for a few minutes then more chirping followed by echupping and back to quiet time.  A few minutes later Miss Pigott appeared at the front of the cubby.

I never saw DC go in or leave the cubby but I know he was there from the vocalizations that occurred in and around it. I think he might be related to Houdini! lol Anyway, Pigott started preening and after 10 minutes I was convinced that DC was gone and wasn’t going to come shooting out of the cubby like he has in the past. I left her to it and returned downtown to see if I could find some PEFAs. I had no luck in locating any but as I was driving down Andrews St. I spotted a funny site-a pigeon perched right next to one of those fake owls that people put out to scare birds away.

That’s all she wrote folks-I ended my watch at 10am. Even tho I never saw Beauty or DC I still left smiling for the fun watch I just had which featured Baron! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos from my watch

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqiby

http://youtu.be/lIQ39mY8yNw
http://youtu.be/RaZ1-21M4AE
http://youtu.be/lesa5rQNWfY
http://youtu.be/xHYrWXWENpw
http://youtu.be/hWkCEl3KbxY
http://youtu.be/TAI4ozQWjV0

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Since MAK and Lynda were cruising the downtown area this evening, I decided to watch from the east end of the pedestrian bridge.  It was a beautiful evening.  I joined fellow Watchers Joyce and Kathy O around 6:30 pm. Lots of folks were out taking a walk on the bridge and enjoying the view of the High Falls and the river below.  I hoped that the juvies might visit, but they didn’t.

During our watch from the pedestrian bridge we were able to keep track of some of the Rochester Falcons.  When I first arrived, both Voyager and Rosetta were on the platform of the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT).

*

*

*

*

*

They both took off heading south and both landed on the City Place bldg, which is just south of the FCT.  At first we weren’t sure what building it was, due to our view from the pedestrian bridge.

*

*

*

*

*

The next speck we spotted from the pedestrian bridge was Dot.ca, reported by MAK and Lynda, on the NE corner of the Xerox.  This was actually the only part of Xerox we could see from our location. lol

*

*

*

*

*

We kept an eye on Rosetta and Voyager on City Place, constantly checking out the city buildings for any sign of the other falcons.  Dot.ca took off from Xerox.  Voyager took off from City Place, flying low in front of the building, heading south where I lost sight of her behind some trees.  Rosetta launched herself from City Place and chased a gull to the west.  She then returned to City Place.

That’s pretty much all of the falcon activity I saw during my two hour Watch (6:30 – 8:30 pm).

We all decided to call it a Watch just after 8:00 pm.  But first, I wanted to verify what building we saw the two juvies on.  We had agreed that it was City Place, just south of the FCT, but Joyce and I drove over there to make sure.  Yep, it was definitely City Place and Rosetta was still there.

*

*

*

*

*

Tonight I saw Dot.ca, Voyager and Rosetta during my Watch.  It was fun to watch from the pedestrian bridge, which gives you an amazing view of downtown Rochester.   Good night everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays starting temp was 54 (F) 12 (C) with clear conditions

Arriving at the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT) at 5:40am I could see no falcons, so my next stop was Kodak Office (KO). As I pulled over on Mill St. and looked up at the top of KO I could see 2 juvies circling and playing talon tag in the semi-darkness. One of them landed on the east side of the cupola and flew off-repeating this 4 times before staying put. I think the other juvie landed on the west side(side I couldn’t see) of the launchpad.

In the next 15 minutes the cupola juvie walked to the southwest corner and then back around to the northeast corner and then flew to FCT. I checked all sides of KO but could not find the other fledgling.

I drove over to City Hall to check out the fledgling that had landed on the east side platform railing. It had its back to me so there was no way to get a bead on its leg band to ID it.

I left it to take a ride around downtown to see if I could find any other falcons but I came up empty handed and when I returned to FCT that juvie was gone. I took another ride around and ended up at the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at 6:45am where Larry was on watch. There was a juvie back on the FCT railing east side and I spotted one on the Gorsline building which is next to the High Falls.

15 minutes later both juvies were gone without us seeing them leave so we had no idea what direction they flew. Larry left at 7am and right after that as I was scanning the northern sky with my binocs I came across 3 falcons playing talon tag over near Sahlen’s Stadium-home of the Rochester Rhinos soccer team. There was a building in between 2 sets of field lights that they kept flying behind making me lose sight of them. Finally they didn’t come back out from behind it-I waited and watched all around for a few minutes and then decided to go to the Brighton Site (BS).

I made my way past all the places our falcons like to hang out but didn’t find any until I started down Plymouth Ave. toward Cornhill. Just as I was crossing the overpass for 490 I looked at the jail tower and spotted a falcon. I made a quick left onto Troup St. and had just enough time to snap off a couple pics before it flew southeast into the sun causing me to lose track of it. It was one of our fledglings.

I continued on to BS where I promptly found Pigott around 7:30am on the east end of the south side vent. She was preening her lovely feathers and napping on and off.

After I left Miss Pigott I checked downtown but never saw another falcon thus ending my watch at 8:30am.  It was a pretty uneventful watch and I didn’t see either Beauty or Dot.Ca but I still left smiling for having seen all 3 juvies flying and Pigott whom I hadn’t seen in a number of days. 🙂

I have provided links below for you to view 2 videos

http://youtu.be/UfEfmZdYg38
http://youtu.be/eISSoBAUXIM

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

I arrived downtown just before 6:30 pm.  First stop, the Kodak Tower, where I found a falcon on the SE corner of the launchpad.  This falcon had it’s back to me, but I’m pretty sure it was an adult and most likely Beauty, but who knows for sure.  lol  Low light and shooting into bright sunshine is a deadly combination for my camera, but I figure some kind of picture is better than no picture at all.  Or at least I hope so.  hahaha

When I parked in front of the Frontier stadium, I could see two falcons on the Frontier Communication Tower (FCT), two juvies (I thought one was an adult before I checked my pictures).  Based on size, I believe it was Baron on the top arm and one of his sisters on the 2nd arm.

*

*

*

*

*

Baron stooped off of the top arm of FCT, to the east, low over the river.  After stooping, I saw him circle higher and higher, gaining altitude.  The female on the 2nd arm of FCT, took off and landed on the platform on the west side.

*

*

*

*

*

From the parking lot next to the  Hochstein  School of Music, I was able to see a 2nd falcon, again facing away and the brilliant sunlight.  It felt really good.  Since there was no moved by the three in view, I decided it was time to go check on Pigott at the BS location.  She hadn’t been seen in awhile.

At the BS location, I found Pigott on the west end of the south side vent.  She was de-feathering prey up there, only showing her face in shadow now as then.  I stayed with her for awhile, until she started to vocalize, a loud screeeeeeee! and some ee-chupping!  I looked all over for Dot.ca.  She exhibited this type behavior when he would come in.  There he was!  Dot.ca arrived carrying a small prey bird, sparrow/starling size.  He landed on the east end of the vent, opposite Pigott and they both had a little chat as DC plucked feathers furiously.  He was standing in a cloud of fluff feathers.  Finally the feathers stopped falling and he was looking around.  Tonight the temperature was in the high 60’s (F) during my evening fledge watch.

*

*

*

*

*

As soon as DC was done prepping his prey, he took off, heading north west, towards downtown.  Pigott became quiet and she just looked around, ever-vigilant.  I said goodbye to her and headed downtown, where I met Lisa McK on the Broad St bridge.  We saw no falcons from there and it was getting late, approximately 8:30 pm.   It was time to head home.

On my way out of downtown, I checked the Frontier Comm Tower, nothing.  Last stop, the Kodak Tower, where I found a juvie up on top of the cupola on top of the tower on the SE side.  I heard a juvie cry out and the cupola juvie took off flying south.  About 1/2 way across the Kodak parking lot, a 2nd juvie flew in from the south and they met with a talon tag greeting.  It was getting dark by this time, but I could see them both fly back to the Kodak Tower.  Both attempted to land on the same SE corner of the 17th floor.  One stayed and one took off.  The one that took off ended up landing and the SE edge of the cupola.  The falcon that remained on the 17th floor corner took off and headed up to the cupola where it flew around, before settling on the cupola on the west side I think.  Too dark to tell for sure.  The one on the SE corner of the cupola, stood out from where I was watching from, near the Kodak parking lot.

The Kodak lights were on, two juvies had made it there for the evening and it was time for me to head home also at approximately 9:00 pm.  Goodnight!

*

*

*

*

*

p.s.  I will be working on a weekend fledge watch report from this past weekend.  It was a dream fledge watch for sure for this Watcher and the others that witnessed it. Young falcons in the gorge!  WooHoo!  About time!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning it was chilly with a starting temp of 50 (F) 10 (C). Dan and I could actually see our breath up on the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge at 6am.

I arrived downtown at 5:45am and found a falcon on the southwest corner of the launchpad on Kodak Office (KO).. In less than a minute it flew out and back landing on the southeast corner of the launchpad. It was still a bit dark out and with its back to me I couldn’t tell if it was a juvie or adult.

Click on my pics to see full version

I left it to check the rest of downtown and when I reached the east side I found Beauty in the same spot as yesterday morning on the east side of HSBC.

She stayed there for the next 20 minutes preening and looking around. When she was ready to go she simply spread her wings and dropped off heading northwest over Clinton Square toward the river.

After I didn’t find any falcons I went to the Pont De Rennes pedestrian bridge where I found Larry and Dan at 6:30am. I asked Dan if he had seen the PEFA on the KO launchpad earlier and he said yes. He also told me that when he first got there 2 juvies came flying out from under the bridge and he thought they must have been roosting under there on a beam. He also said he saw all 3 fledglings flying in the area. 15 minutes later I spotted 2 falcons on the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). 1 was near the southeast corner of the platform railing and the other right below it.

A few minutes later the railing bird was gone and a few minutes after that the other FCT bird flew to the Times Square building (TSB) landing under the northeast wing then taking off again.

Dan and Larry decided to leave at 7:15am and at the same time cam watcher Donna reported that there was a screaming juvie on the wall above the nest box. Thank you so much for the help!

I drove over to the hole to have a closer view of things-I was able to ID the juvie as Baron. He stayed there until 7:30am or so and then flew off squawking and landed up under the southeast wing before flying off to the west.

Baron returned a minute later and landed under the northeast wing.  A few minutes later I noticed movement at the back of the ledge. There was another juvie up there and it was eating and it stuck its head over the edge for a peek! As it came out to join Baron I was able to ID it as Rosetta.

The 2 of them kept running back and forth from the front to the back and on both sides of the ledge. I think they were sharing cached food that was at the back of the ledge.

<Baron <Baron&Rosetta <Rosetta

DebbieH came by on her way to work and was treated to seeing Rosetta up front and center under the northeast wing. We must treasure every look we have of the juvies now as they will soon be leaving the territory on their life journey. Rosetta flew off heading north as we lost sight of her behind buildings.

Debbie had to get going and I went up on the Broad St. Bridge to see if Baron was still up there-he was not so I went to Brighton to look for the elusive Pigott.  No change there she is still eluding me! I returned downtown and after a lengthy search I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the top ibeam north corner of OCSR just before 9am. I was parked on State St. across from the Rochester Plaza Hotel at first but he turned his back to me so I drove over to Bragdon St. across the river next to the Radisson Hotel to observe him from the front.

After a while I decided to go look for juvies and as I stopped on the Andrews St. bridge I spotted 2 falcons on FCT-1 on the top arm south side that turned out to be the Beautyful one and 1 on the east side of the platform that turned out to be Rosetta. I went over to City Hall to be closer to them and for IDing purposes.

<Rosetta> <Beauty>

At 10:09am Rosetta spread her wings started vocalizing and flew off to the southeast. I looked up to see Beauty was off as well!

Between Dan and myself all 5 downtown Rochester Peregrine Falcons had been seen  on this morning and I went home smiling! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and videos

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DFm0ZMWqibQ

http://youtu.be/J9jEAGWHVLU
http://youtu.be/iP4TAvmzSsw
http://youtu.be/Ilt970tAgyk